The lights of the House Chamber are reflected in the railing that surrounds the chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 3, 2015, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks before a joint meeting of Congress. In a speech that stirred political intrigue in two countries, Netanyahu told Congress that negotiations underway between Iran and the U.S. would “all but guarantee” that Tehran will get nuclear weapons, a step that the world must avoid at all costs. House Speaker John Boehner, of Ohio, left, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, listen. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

MINNEAPOLIS — Just over three months have passed since a historic agreement was brokered between the P5+1 nations and Iran in Geneva to curb Iran’s nuclear program.

Yet Americans remain in the dark about the actual details of the deal.

That’s because rather than informing and educating, the mainstream media is so caught up in the partisan fistfight over the Iran deal, that it’s putting special interest talking points ahead of the facts.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is simple: It allows U.N. inspectors access to Iran’s key nuclear facilities and ensures Iran is using its nuclear program for peaceful energy purposes — something that Iran, as a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, allowed long before this deal was reached. The deal just expands access to even more facilities specifically for U.N. inspectors.

The deal also requires Iran to significantly cut back on materials that would be critical to nuclear weapons development. This includes reducing the number of centrifuges actively enriching uranium by half and, most importantly, repurposing its heavy water reactors so it does not produce plutonium.

In return, many of the U.N. Security Council sanctions against the Islamic Republic would be lifted, expanding Iranians’ access to the medical, food and banking industries. This will give a much-needed boost to Iran’s economy, which has suffered under economic sanctions for nearly 40 years, and particularly since the early 2000s.

Despite the realities of the deal as it’s written, the major talking points from Republicans and even some Democrats and others opposed to the negotiations, like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, revolve on the premise that the deal actually allows Iran to further its nuclear program to create a bomb.

“The foremost sponsor of global terrorism could be weeks away from having enough enriched uranium for an entire arsenal of nuclear weapons and this with full international legitimacy.

And by the way, if Iran’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program is not part of the deal, and so far, Iran refuses to even put it on the negotiating table. Well, Iran could have the means to deliver that nuclear arsenal to the far-reach corners of the earth, including to every part of the United States.

So you see, my friends, this deal has two major concessions: one, leaving Iran with a vast nuclear program and two, lifting the restrictions on that program in about a decade. That’s why this deal is so bad. It doesn’t block Iran’s path to the bomb; it paves Iran’s path to the bomb.”

But the truth is: Iran was never building a nuclear weapon. In 2005, Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa, or Islamic ruling, that bans nuclear weapons and their manufacture in Iran. Further, spy cables leaked earlier this year to the Guardian revealed that Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad, and the CIA have even admitted amongst themselves that not only is Iran “not performing the activity necessary to produce weapons” now, it wasn’t in the past, either.

This is all in stark contrast to Netanyahu’s dire warnings that Iran is just a few months or years away from obtaining a nuclear bomb. He’s been issuing these warnings since at least 1992, and in the months leading up to the deal, he was given practically unlimited airtime to tell the world why this deal spells impending doom for Israel and will lead to widespread suffering in the Middle East and eventually spark a major arms race.

Meanwhile, OpenSecrets reports that many of the lawmakers who oppose peaceful negotiations with Iran received anywhere from tens of thousands to close to $1 million from pro-Israel donors in the 2014 election cycle. Rep. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, for example, received $900,000 from the Emergency Committee for Israel.

When it comes to matters relating to the Middle East and Israel, MJ Rosenberg, a former AIPAC employee, revealed: “AIPAC writes the legislation (or letters, resolutions, etc) which are then handed over to legislators to drop in the hopper, gather cosponsors, and get it passed or sent.“

But why? Why is there so much opposition from Netanyahu and the Israel lobby, despite evidence from the CIA and Israeli intelligence that Iran has neither the desire nor the capability to obtain nuclear weapons?

Why would a lobby group spend millions of dollars swaying America’s elected officials on this one deal? And why did it spend an additional $50 million on a campaign to mould public opinion about Iran ahead of Congress voting on the deal?

As the old saying goes: Follow the money

Nearly every conflict we see today can be traced back to basic economic interests. Iran’s non-existent nuclear weapons program is a red herring to draw attention away from a simple, yet massively impactful, reality on the global stage.

Iran is on its way to becoming a major world power — so much so, in fact, that it’s being described as the China of the Middle East. To better understand why this is vital to comprehending the U.S.-led negotiations with Iran, a look at the current power structure in the region is necessary.

In this photo provided by the Saudi Press Agency, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, stands with Saudi King Salman during an arrival ceremony, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday, March 2, 2015. (AP Photo/SPA)

The major powers in the Middle East today are Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Israel. They’re more or less allies, and they are the ones calling the plays. An end to sanctions would be a major shot in the arm for Iran’s economy, threatening the hegemony Saudi Arabia has imposed on the region through its status as the world’s source of oil.

In this picture taken on Friday, July 17, 2015, an Iranian woman walks past a Sony dealer at a shopping center in downtown Tehran, Iran. While it will likely be months before sanctions on Iran ease, business and political leaders are wasting no time in trying to tap into a large and what they hope will be a lucrative Iranian market. Ads for European cars and luxury goods are starting to reappear in Tehran. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Yet these well-educated professionals are often forced to leave Iran to find work abroad due to the crippled economy and lack of jobs. If Iran’s economy is bolstered by the rolling back of sanctions, these innovators wouldn’t need to leave and could help drive Iran’s economy even further.

Without sanctions holding it back, Iran threatens the major regional superpower status quo. It could very well spark a shake-up in the current power structure in the Middle East, leaving Israel and its ally Saudi Arabia out in the cold — or, at least, that seems to be where Israel’s concerns lie.

Indeed, a look back on a couple of decades gone by can shed light on why Israel and its allies perceive a strong Iran as a threat.

Resistance to Western meddling

Banners criticizing the shah, during the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted the Shah, a U.S.-backed dictator who was installed as Iran’s leader after the U.S. and Britain orchestrated a coup to overthrow democratically-elected prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh, and the events of the Iranian hostage crisis, Iranian leaders joined the ranks of Cuba in nationalizing their oil supplies and loudly opposing British and American meddling abroad and the corporatization of other nations’ oil and resources.

During this period, it was the United States and Britain’s official foreign policy to install Western-friendly dictators across South America, Africa and the Middle East, bring in multinational corporations and banking industries to exploit nation’s economies and resources, and hold third world nations hostage to International Monetary Fund loans while manipulating their economies.

The Cuban Revolution, led by revolutionaries including Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, took the world by storm in the 1950s, and Iran’s Islamic Revolution had a similar effect in 1979. Both nations came to represent an axis of anti-imperialism. Their alliance and similar ideology were bolstered by the belief that third world dependence on the West was an intrinsic result of neocolonialism and monopoly capitalism, with the only remedy being “working class internationalism,” inspired by the Cuban Revolution.

These countries spoke out loudly against the new colonialist project in the Middle East: The creation of Israel, its military occupation of historic Palestine, and its policy of genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

But perhaps what happened a few years prior is more noteworthy: The 1967 War ended with Israel taking control over the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, the Palestinian Gaza Strip, West Bank, Old City of Jerusalem, and Lebanon and Syria’s Golan Heights — most of which are strategic oil- and gas-rich areas. Israel was left to choose between accepting isolation or forming new alliances — and how it chose to proceed ultimately laid the groundwork for the Middle East power structure we know today.

Tensions in the Middle East hit a fever pitch. With the Arab Gulf states holding the U.S. hostage with an oil embargo over U.S. military aid and support for Israel’s aggressive attempts to expand its borders to build “Greater Israel,” President Jimmy Carter brokered a peace agreement under the Camp David Accords between several Gulf states, Israel and the U.S. This so-called diplomatic peace arrangement, though, was defined by major oil and arms sales. In this process, Israel formed its most important strategic alliance in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia.

Iran was the final pillar standing against Israel’s occupation of Palestine and the United States’ strategy of propping up dictators across the Middle East. And Iran soon formed alliances of its own. It went on to arm and support the Lebanese political resistance group Hezbollah, which had formed as early as 1982 to take back the stolen Golan Heights from Israel’s military expansion and occupation. The Islamic Republic also established an alliance with Syria based on their shared opposition to the new colonialist divide-and conquer-project in the region: Israel.

Iran took on Palestinian liberation as its own cause and helped arm Hamas against Israel’s military occupation. The creation of Israel became the epitome of the West’s latest divide-and-conquer strategy in the Middle East, and resistance in the region was at an all-time high. This all drove an even bigger wedge between the U.S. and Israel, and Iran.

Flash-forward to today, and Israel’s closest ally in the Middle East is still Saudi Arabia. The House of Saud is funding, arming and backing terror groups like Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS with American weapons.

Operating in Iran’s neighboring countries, Iraq and Syria, these groups are engaged in a proxy war for regional influence and power by playing up the Sunni-Shiite divide. After the Syrian revolt in 2011 that called for economic reform, Israel’s closest allies armed and financially supported the Syrian opposition.

ISIS and al-Nusra, both terror groups created by the Arab Gulf states, hijacked the uprising within a few months and waged a bloody sectarian civil war against the Syrian people and the Syrian government — a major arms, oil and gas ally of Iran. Announcing that they would attack Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, and any Iranian ally, including Hamas, Hezbollah fighters joined the fight in Syria in 2012, allying themselves with the Syrian government.

This war is still raging today — pitting Syrians against Syrians, and Sunnis and Shiites against each other. But, as CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou told MintPress News in a recent interview for “Behind the Headline,” this conflict — like most conflicts — boils down to pure economics. He explained:

“You see incidents, like, let’s say, Yemen or Syria, where there are very serious human rights issues at play, and we don’t go into Yemen to feed and clothe the Yemeni people and to give them medical aid … It’s nice to pay lip-service to human rights. We love to say that we’re this shining city on a hill, where we support human rights, but the truth of the matter is, we only support those human rights when the country also has oil it can sell us. I mean, that’s just a fact of American policy in the Middle East.”

What we see taking place today is an effort to weaken Iran in order to maintain Saudi domination of the oil market and to preserve the alliances based on oil and arms sales that Israel worked so hard to build with its supposed enemies.

And today, Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iraq are Iran’s only Middle Eastern allies, serving as a proxy for what may eventually turn into an all-out war on Iran. To make matters worse, Israel is working closely with the Saudi kingdom to attack Iran — the two countries admitted to this alliance at a Council on Foreign Relations meeting in Washington last year.

What is Israel really threatened by?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu draws a red line on an illustration describing Iran’s ability to create a nuclear weapon as he addresses the 67th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. Headquarters in New York, September 27, 2012. [REUTERS/Keith Bedford]

It’s important to remember that Israel’s not-so-secret nuclear arsenal — currently estimated at 80 warheads strong — makes it the only nuclear-armed regional player. But unlike Iran, it’s not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. And Israel doesn’t allow U.N. inspectors anywhere near the nuclear program it will neither publicly confirm or deny even exists.

In the Middle East and elsewhere, ties are important, and ties are telling — especially when they shift. While the U.S. has long been Israel’s staunchest ally, those ties are fraying, as evidenced by the fact that the Iran deal is rolling full-steam ahead. Despite massive continued military support and spending, and despite partisan bickering, the Iran deal is perhaps one of the clearest indications that the U.S. is no longer content to sit back as Israel attempts to run the show in the Middle East.

The facts that the mainstream media isn’t telling us about Israel are even scarier than the fear-mongering it’s trying to pass off as facts about Iran.

The 24-hour news cycle hasn’t yet made much room for the voices of the Iranian people or for history to speak for itself, but it is precisely these perspectives which provide the counterbalance to Netanyahu’s grim predictions of what a nuclear Iran might be capable of.

Indeed, it’s capable of far more than annihilation. It’s capable of sustaining a bustling economy that can give rise to innovation and make the kinds of contributions to the world that it’s not been able to make for decades. While Iran, like most nations, faces domestic issues with freedom of speech and freedom of the press, it’s also capable of letting the strengths of its people shine on the world stage — something the mainstream media may find difficult to frame as a global threat.

What ever the western do. They will not stop the rise of Iran. Saudi royal family are the worst human beings and they don’t speak for Sunni islam or for Shia islam. We the Sunni and Shia will over come this evil..

Jack Hughes

On human rights Iran is Denmark compared to our ally Saudi Arabia, which is the source of Sunni religious extremism.
America should be looking over the horizon twenty years from now. With its young population yearning for democratic reforms Iran is the future of the Muslim world unless mindless American militancy screws it up.

Jade W

So well said! If America goes into Iran, they will only align young “green” Iranians with the regime they despise against the foreign enemy. My mind is not geared towards international relations. It’s not my area of interest and even I know that! The US is funding ISIS in Syria, continuing close relations with Saudi Arabia (despite 9/11), is penalising countries that had nothing to do with 9/11 instead, and is doing what it can to exacerbate terrorism as if to say that it’s “war on terror” is justified. I don’t have anyone feeding me ideas. I read from various sources and think critically for myself. Yet with all the information that is available to us, very few people seem capable of joining the dots. It doesn’t take too much research or too much critical thought to see that what is happening is absolute lunacy. It is true that the Democrats did this and it is true that previous Republicans have done this. Neither side is right and it is time for it to stop. People who voted for Trump voted for something different. It is time to say “No more”. This “War on Terrorism” has taken the lives of US servicemen and women. It has traumatised US military and their families. The effects have permeated throughout American society and veterans and their families are often forgotten. The losses and trauma of war is never on one side and we need to start auditing the cost of war and assessing whether it is worth it.

Angela Gardner

Why do people even attempt to deny this, let those with eyes see and those with ears listen. Weballbsee Israel and its actions. Look at its borders, ever expanding.taking , destroying. Just because nainstream do noy

Is there anything new here? It’s such a rehash of propaganda from Fars and Payvand and other Iran regime controlled media sites. Why even bother calling it journalism. I’m not defender of Israel and it deserves criticism, but the conclusion this reaches about Iran’s “moderation” is a falsehood in light of the aggressive moves Iran has made the past month in test firing a new ballistic missile that violates UN Security Council restrictions, launching a new offensive in Syria aimed not at ISIS but rebel forces opposed to Assad, convicting Jason Rezaian and still holding three other Americans in prison, and smuggling more weapons to Houthis in Yemen. Yeah, those are all great moves to stabilize the region.

TeeJae

Well, it seems the mainstream media has effectively fear-mongered you. The ballistic missile test was simply part of an exercise Iran conducts each year… NOT in violation of the UN resolution, by the way.

As for its support of Asaad and the Houthis – duh. Did you read this article all the way through?

tapatio

Jewish propagandists make such huge claims and accusations about Iran and everyone else that they find unprofitable. Yet these Jews NEVER manage to produce any real evidence to back their lies. Meanwhile, there is abundant proof of the Jewish state’s threat to world peace and their continuous aggression, barbarity and treachery………………….

“Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother.”
Moshe Dayan

Rabid dogs MUST be destroyed for the good of humanity. They are capable of NOTHING, except
spreading their disease.

Martin Van Creveld, a professor of military history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, has been quoted as saying: “Most European capitals are targets for our air force….We have the capability to
take the world down with us. And I can assure you that that will happen before Israel goes under.”

Israeli official justified Israel’s threats. “You Americans screwed us” in not supporting Israel in its 1956 war with Egypt. We can still remember the smell of Auschwitz and Treblinka. Next time we’ll take all of you with us.”

Ariel Sharon said “We are much more important than Americans think. We can take the middle east with us whenever we go” and “Arabs may have the oil, but we have the matches.”

Israeli President,Shimon Peres has admitted that nuclear weapons are used by Israel for “compellent purposes” – i.e., forcing others to accept Israeli political demands. In 1998 Peres was quoted as
saying, “We have built a nuclear option, not in order to have a Hiroshima, but to have our own Oslo.” (BLACKMAIL)

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, said “If left to its own Israel will have no choice but to fall back on a riskier defense which will endanger itself and the world at large… To enable Israel to abstain from dependence on nuclear arms calls for $2 to 3 billion per year in U.S. aid.” (Clear Blackmail)

The state of Israel has violated every treaty they have signed. Today they are the world’s most prolific violator of international law. According to the Pentagon, Israel has between 200 and 400 nuclear weapons, ranging from suitcase-size “terrorist” bombs to thermonuclear warheads. Israel also has deployed the “Jericho III” intercontinental ballistic missile system, capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the Central United States. They also have submarines capable of launching nuclear armed missiles anywhere in the world.

one must wonder why such a tiny, insignificant state should feel the need for such weapons.

Mirko Kriskovic

Is interesting that you mention legality and aggressive moves in the region turned a blind eye to Saudi’s bombing of Yemen (and is no propaganda) and Israel Nuclear programme, oh I forgot that they are members of no international organization whatsoever, and by default claim that since they haven’t sign anything the law doesn’t apply to us…. I guess the obvious is not so when speaking on behalf of Isreal hasbra?!?!?

André De Koning

Steill believe in the moderates in Syria: they don’t exist but it is clear that Syrian people are not ever listened to: the main aim has been that they will not be able to get their own right to elections. They might vote for Assad and he has been smeared in the propaganda campaigns. It is well documented what the terrorists have done and who supplied them weapons. The holy Saudis do commit their war crimes with the full support of the US, Murderous Nation nr 1-under-God. Just because you are ignorant and know nothing about Syria, does give you the right to keep on supporting terrorists (or moderate murderers as you may call them).

Breaking into the 24-hour news cycle is doubtless tough. It seems to me that what Iran really needs to develop is an an Al Jazeera-type Weapon of Mass Education; i.e. English-language global media capability. Countering the plethora of pro-Israel interest groups (particularly in the US) with some of their own would also help rebalance the rather one-sided mix of news content.

I like to get views from all quarters – as my Disqus comments history demonstrates – but content expressing the Iranian viewpoint is almost impossible to find on mainstream media. Who knows, perhaps this is the result of a parallel US sanctions regime. Full credit to a NFP org. like MPN for airing it’s counter-mainstream views anyway.

The importance of this now cannot be overstated: Israel (it’s current leader at least) feels threatened by a more distant US administration – and no doubt Russia’s more overt support for Iran recently. Netanyahu’s recent irrationality (#muftimademedoit) is of great concern. Despite the Geneva agreement he continues to use the WMD ‘threat’ to get Israeli and to a lesser extent, global opinion behind a unilateral military strike – as it is clear the US has no reason to participate now. This catastrophe could perhaps be avoided if Iran were able to get it’s message across more broadly – such that global opinion made a strike against Iran politically impossible. In any case, an expansion in Iran’s ability to project it’s views would be a natural accompaniment to it’s ‘rehabilitation’.

Thanks again and best wishes with MPN.

fortunev

Iranians, the Persians, have been a wealthy empire and survivors since El Gran Alejandro invaded the Mideast more than 2,000 years ago: the Greeks were subsequently absorbed into the body politic There is no way a pipsqueak armed country like Israel will ever dominate the Persians. Sure, they have a fistful of nuclear bombs but only 8 million people and they live in an apartheid state surrounded by people who do not like them. Iran has 77 million citizens. They are the regional giant in that part of the world and with many friends. The present political situation is fluid and changing. I put my money on Iran.

Fireplace 1

lran also has a huge underground mil1tary operation which was built to survive a nuclear attack.

tapatio

With constant Jewish threats of nuclear attack on Iran, Iran should have their facilities underground. They are also foolish not to have a strong, ongoing nuclear weapons program. One or two is all that are necessary since Israel is a one or two bomb state (that’s all that it would take to obliterate Israel if Israel were insane enough to attack anyone with nuclear weapons).

Negative Creep

Before Israel even WAS, the US government was in bed with Saudi Arabia. This article makes it sound like Israel is the bad guy here, when in reality, it’s the US that’s to be blamed for the socio-economic and political atmosphere of the Middle East. The devil here people, is our own government. The problem also, is that there is so much misinformation, all articles like this do is serve to further the divide. Even the best-intentioned articles seem to manage to divide us! We get nowhere playing the blame-game. Ever. Does Iran deserve to have sanctions lifted? Perhaps, if they will behave as a world power should and keep to the agreements made. But they’ve already backed out of past agreements just because they refuse to have their military facilities inspected by the UN. Last year Iran practically smeared egg all over Obama’s face when he said “hey our agreement was reached” and Iran said “ha, no – we NEVER agreed to inspections at our military facilities”. Iran HATES the United States, for all the reasons listed within this article. Iran also hates Israel. Iran wants nothing more than the destruction of both governments. I honestly can’t say I blame them, but there is much more here than meets the eye. In truth, the situation is no-win, for anyone, except perhaps the US. And our imperialism really needs to end. I once thought I had a good idea of the issues in the Middle East, but the more I read, the more I truly believe that the plebians, like us, don’t have a clue and probably won’t until it’s too late. I want both Palestine and Israel to be able to coexist. I want Iran to have a chance to cool it’s hatred for the United States, and Israel. I want all these MEN in power to grow consciences and do what’s right for the good of the people they represent. However, I feel that will NEVER happen, because there is an endgame that only the world leaders are privvy to. It also doesn’t make sense for Israel to be so concerned over Iran’s nuclear capacity when they have such a stockpile. Logic would dictate that situation as a stalemate, don’t you think? I did read once, that the hoopla over Iran *making* nuclear warheads was moot as they already have them! If that’s the case, this argument seems pointless, except as a tool to continue to control Iran? But why? Simply because they don’t join all the other cool kids on the block? Smh… I do believe there is a much bigger picture here. Both Muslims and Christians have end-of-days stories, and I think that is what it comes to. I have an idea, perhaps so off-base that it’s laughable, but here it is. The Mahdi will come from Iran and lead Muslims against their agreed-upon oppressors: the *state* of Israel (state, because I have divided the innocent people from their guilty leaders). A real threat against Israel will be raised, requiring someone to come to Israel’s aid. If you’re a Christian, you may recognize this someone as the antichrist. A worldwide peace treaty will be created, and the annihilation of Israel will be prevented by dividing it. Everyone will be awed and amazed by this power of peace; by the antichrist. Most people will see the Mahdi as the antichrist, but this will not be. The antichrist, IMHO, will be the leader of the United States at the time of Israel’s (especially Jerusalem’s) division. What other country will have this type of power? If one looks at things from this light, this whole mess seems like an inevitable march toward a forgone conclusion. But the Mahdi must first gain the power to threaten the state of Israel… I do believe this is what we’re witnessing – the gathering of power against Israel, coupled with it’s loss of worldwide support. A forgone conclusion that we are powerless to stop. 🙁

TeeJae

Aside from all the religious nonsense your argument unfortunately devolved down into (which doesn’t merit addressing), I do have the following bones to pick:

First, you say, “Iran wants nothing more than the destruction of both [US & Israeli] governments.” Pure Western propaganda. But I’d welcome credible evidence (i.e. NOT mainstream media) you may have to back that up.

Second, you say, “It also doesn’t make sense for Israel to be so concerned over Iran’s nuclear capacity when they have such a stockpile.” That’s one of the major points of this article. They aren’t truly concerned about that. They ARE concerned about Iran becoming an economic powerhouse in the region.

Next you say, “I did read once, that the hoopla over Iran *making* nuclear warheads was moot as they already have them!” Your source was mistaken (or intentionally misleading).

Then, “I do believe there is a much bigger picture here. Both Muslims and Christians have end-of-days stories, and I think that is what it comes to.” Did you read the article all the way through? It (and several others here on MintPress) have debunked the so-called “sectarian” strife argument.

For your own benefit (both of you who responded), it would be best if you read MANY news sources, not just MPN. They are quite biased. I will pray for you, you seem so angry! Peace, love and empathy to you!

TeeJae

WorldNetDaily, Washington Times and NewsMax? Seriously? I asked for CREDIBLE sources. No wonder your comments are so full of misinformation. And the “military officials” they quote are among the war hawks desperately trying to keep the MIC alive. So, any propaganda (because that’s all it is) coming from them must be taken with a HUGE grain of salt.

So, the “death to America” sentiment more accurately means “down with,” by way of economic and/or political destruction due the suffering the Iranian people have endured under US sanctions. It may also have spiritual undertones, as in a prayer that the US gets what it deserves. But even there, they are empty threats.

Here are a few more sources offering some much-needed perspective on this issue:

Perhaps, Missy Parker hasn’t noticed that Iran has NEVER been in violation of the terms of the NPT, NO evidence of ANY nuclear weapons program has EVER been found in Iran. Iran scrupulously follows international law………which is something that can never be said about Washington or its Zionist masters. The resistance groups that are supported by Iran are INDIGENOUS groups resisting the pseudo-Jewish European invaders of Palestine and Lebanon.

But, Missy Parker is eagerly awaiting her holy 0rgasm, which she probably calls “The Rapture”, in which she imagines that all of the “saved” will float off to heaven and the rest of the world will be left to Armageddon. But, first, all of the Jews must gather in Palestine before she can float away.

I once had one of these “Christian Zionists” tell me all about their fantasies of the end of the world that was so dependent on the Jews. It’s difficult to decide whether these evangelical whack-a-moles are sicker than the Israeli leadership…………it’s kind of a toss-up (both groups make one want to toss up their lunch)

Iran is a nation far, far older than either the US or its pariasite, Israel. They have already been taken over once by the limitless greed and lust for power of the CIA’s Jew masters. They have EVERY RIGHT to do whatever they must to repel invasion or attack.

Negative Creep

Wow, I feel bad for you. You must really have no life. Is this all you do, troll the net for ways to hurt and insult people you dont even know? How sad. Your anger doesnt change the truth of things, by the way. Perhaps you should step away from your computer and try to make some RW friends? Perhaps then you wont be so angry and belligerent? Hey, try listening to Nirvana for a while – it certainly helps work out that inner anger. And God Bless Israel!!

HOW CUTE………..ANOTHER MEMRI “CREATIVE TRANSLATION”. JEW-BOY, THE AYATOLLAH IS NOT EVEN A LITTLE BIT PSYCHOTIC, LIKE HIS PREDECESSOR OR YOUR EMPEROR BIBI. HE WOULD NEVER UTTER SUCH DRIVEL. TAKE YOUR LYING JEW PROPAGANDA AND INSERT IT IN A DARK MALODOROUS PLACE.

Does Israel have its weapons inspected? During this Syrian conflict, has Israels borders moved. At the expense of Palestine, has Israel grown beyond all permitted measure. During these mass murdering attacks ISIS etc….. has Israel suffered, more than one way to see responsibility and motive. Should be world ruling, to ensure you can only defend, not attack or interfere with each nation. Absolutely nobright to take another’s land and

Identity.
There will only be peace if we are all equal. Recognition for Palestine, one of the world’s greatest wrongs.

Robert Munro

The sanctions against Iran, the Iran/US “deal” and the opposition to that deal have absolutely nothing to do with the possibility of an eventual nuclear weapons program in Iran. No Middle Eastern country can catch up to the nuclear weapons stockpiles of Israel, no Middle Eastern country would ever pose the nuclear threat that Israel poses to the world and, without Israel, there would never be a motive for nuclear weapons in the Middle East.

What terrifies the Western oligarchy is the fact that Iran, operating freely as an equal nation, would dominate the Middle East economically, politically, culturally, religiously and militarily. For many, many centuries the Persians/Iranians have been the most significant culture and economy in the region. Their oil and gas resources can easily provide cash for virtually any undertaking and they will never allow the Rothschild/Bilderberg Criminal Cartel to dominate Iran, as it does the rest of the Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia.

An independent Iran would…………..

1) Destroy the grip of the Western Bankster Cartel on Middle Eastern oil.

2) Eliminate the Saud family’s dominance of Mecca and Medina and of much of Islam, tearing Islam from the Wahhabi/Salafist radicals of Saudi Arabia.

Resource exploitation, military occupation and so-called “anti-terror” efforts led by Western countries are destabilizing several countries in Africa, leading to widespread starvation and sickness for millions of people. Famine has become a daily fact of life for many in Somalia, South Sudan and elsewhere in Africa.

Iraqi agriculture expert Dr. Nakd Altameemi joins Mnar Muhawesh on ‘Behind the Headline’ to discuss the devastating toll that war, sanctions and Western corporations have had on Iraq’s centuries-old agricultural traditions.

Rania Khalek, an independent journalist who has been blacklisted for her recent reports on Syria, joins Mnar Muhawesh on ‘Behind the Headline’ to discuss the silencing of journalists who oppose the mainstream media’s pro-war agenda.

As an unprecedented wave of outrage swells against the Trump administration, Mnar Muhawesh, host of ‘Behind the Headline,’ wonders why people weren’t more outraged with Obama’s policies on mass surveillance, whistleblowers, and war.